SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA—Mike Rogers, the former congressman for Michigan’s 8th District, will speak at Wofford College on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. in Leonard Auditorium.
Rogers’ lecture is titled “The Importance of the American Dream at Home and Abroad.” It’s part of the college’s Hipp Lecture Series on International Affairs and National Security. The event is free and open to the public to attend.
“Mike Rogers is one of the most respected Americans in the field of national security today,” says Van Hipp, founder of the college’s Hipp Center for National Security and Foreign Policy. “His leadership as the former chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee and today as chairman of the MITRE Corporation has made a difference in the national security posture of our nation and has helped to keep America safe and strong.”
Rogers, a Republican, served seven terms in Congress, 2001-2015. He chaired the House Intelligence Committee and oversaw a $70 billion budget that provided funding to the country’s 17 intelligence agencies. Before becoming an elected official, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army and as an FBI special agent.
Today, Rogers is investing in and helping build companies that are developing solutions for healthcare, energy efficiency and communications challenges. He chairs the board of trustees for MITRE Corp., a nonprofit that operates federally funded research and development centers. Rogers is a former senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He’s the David Abshire Chair at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. He also is a regular national security commentator on CNN and was the executive producer for the CNN documentary series “Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies.”
The Hipp Lecture Series on International Affairs and National Security is part of the Hipp Center for National Security and Foreign Policy. It was founded in 2011 to create signature events at Wofford with the goal of capturing the attention of students and the public while drawing them into important conversations on applying American leadership and ideals to the challenges of international affairs past, present and future.
Its lecture series is made possible through the generous donations of Wofford alumnus Van D. Hipp Jr., class of 1982, chairman of American Defense International Inc., a Washington D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in government affairs, business development and public relations. Hipp is a former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army.
Wofford College, established in 1854, is a four-year, residential liberal arts college located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It offers 27 major fields of study to a student body of 1,800 undergraduates. Nationally known for the strength of its academic program, outstanding faculty, study abroad participation and successful graduates, Wofford is recognized consistently as a “best value” and for its commitment to student success and accessibility for low- and middle-income students. The college community has 12 sororities and fraternities as well as 20 NCAA Division I athletics teams.